It's been awhile since we heard from the recently prog rockified Cynic, and now the band is gearing up for a headlining European tour this fall in support of "Kindly Bent To Free Us" (reviewed here).

The tour starts on October 1st in Berlin, and sees the band concluding the trek in Munchen on October 10th. The American trio will be joined by Tides Of Nebula as well as Onward With Love. A full list of confirmed dates can be found below.

Regarding the tour, Cynic's Paul Masvidal comments: "We are ecstatic to be coming to Europe and sharing the Cynic frequency with fans across the pond. Cynic will be performing as a trio with many new surprises yet to be seen and heard in this tight format. Also pleased to have Tides Of Nebula and my new project with Amy Correia called Onward With Love (OwL) to share with the community." More...

Cynic (guitarist/vocalist Paul Masvidal, drummer Sean Reinert, and bassist Sean Malone) has kicked off a string of North American tour dates.

The trek, which started last night on July 6th in Vancouver, will see the band perform select dates in the U.S. and Canada before concluding on August 12 in New York City.

Cynic will also be trekking to Canada for an exclusive performance as part of the Heavy Montreal festival in early August. A full list of tour dates can be found below. The band will be performing in support of the prog rock album "Kindly Bent To Free Us" (reviewed here), which is out now. More...

Project Rogue is a new crowd funding project featuring existing Rogue Records America artists teaming up with 16 cross-genre metal titans to create a new studio and video project.

You can find the perks for donating and make your own contribution to the project at this location. All the Project Rogue artists will collaborate together, and the currently announced lineup is as follows:

After a week off due to technical issues, the Metalunderground.com Official Podcast is rolling along once again. Co-host Kevin Perez (n0thinghead) launches this week's episode by announcing another ticket giveaway through Revolution Live in Fort Lauderdale, FL, this time for the upcoming DevilDriver show on June 18th. Tune in for more details.

Then Kevin and co-host Mike Smith (OverkillExposure) react to the new Suicide Silence lyric video "Cease To Exist." The song is the band's first released material since the untimely 2012 death of vocalist Mitch Lucker in a motorcycle crash.

Then comes a discussion of the recent "uncloseting" of two founding Cynic members Paul Masvidal and Sean Reinert, and finally an affectionate nod to the late Hans Ruedi Giger, the Swiss surrealist artist whose impact on metal visuals - including collaborations with Celtic Frost, Carcass, Korn, and Triptykon - runs far and deep.

The progressive metal innovators in Cynic have announced a string of North American tour dates. The trek, which starts on July 6th in Vancouver, BC, will see the band perform select dates in the U.S. and Canada before concluding on August 12th in New York City.

Cynic will also be trekking to Canada for an exclusive performance as part of the Heavy Montreal festival in early August. A full list of tour dates can be found below. These dates will be in support of the band's latest album "Kindly Bent To Free Us" (reviewed here).

Cynic bassist Sean Malone has released a new play through video of the track "Veil of Maya," taken off the 1993 album "Focus." Check it out below.

The band's new album "Kindly Bent To Free Us" is out now (read our review here), and Cynic recently announced two North American Festival dates.

The first date will see the band perform in Los Angeles, CA as part of "United We Stand Festival" on May 10th. Following the stateside appearance, Cynic will then trek to Canada for an exclusive performance as part of Heavy Montreal festival in early August. More...

Last Wednesday, February 12th, writer Mike Smith (OverkillExposure) posted a controversial OpEd titled “From Dicks To Chicks,” examining some irritating trends and pathologies regarding women in metal, amid the backdrop of the massive gender disparity within the genre.

The overall reaction was, put politely, quite visceral.

To kick off Episode Four of the official Metalunderground.com podcast, Mike and co-host Kevin Perez (n0thinghead) assess that reaction [00:01:09] and recap Mike’s intentions in penning the provocative piece.

Moving onto stricter musical matters, Kevin then reviews the new Cynic album “Kindly Bent To Free Us” [00:26:27] and offers a mixed array of feelings on the polarizing experimental direction this unique band has taken.

Naturally, one can rarely discuss new music these days without discussing how one acquired it, and thus Kevin and Mike kick off what’s sure to be a recurring and ever-relevant theme: the shifting formats within the music industry, and how it’s affected purchasing trends. [00:45:25]

Cynic is streaming new track "True Hallucination Speak," which is available below courtesy of Loudwire.com.

The song comes off new album "Kindly Bent to Free Us," scheduled for a North American release date on February 18th, 2014 (February 14th worldwide). You can also hear the album's title track over at this location.

It seemed like one year had passed in a blink of an eye. No sooner had I experienced my first 70,000 Tons of Metal, which included a birthday that saw Helloween, Rage (w/Lingua Mortis Orchestra) and Metal Church play, than I was plotting my next adventure on the high seas. The floating festival is not only the most unique and phenomenal metal sojourns in the world, its boasts a diverse genre spanning 40+ bands. Though the 2013 installment represented an array of bands more geared towards my personal favorite tastes, a “Barge to Hell” like fog is built up around this year with Carcass, Obituary, Massacre, Death: DTA Tours, Satyricon, Terrorizer among a few which has swung the pendulum towards a harsher environment. For the traditional and power styles there is return act and “athletic rock” legends Raven, German euro power and proclaimed “happy metal” act Freedom Call, German symphonic metallers Xandria, Israeli symphonic ambassadors of peace Orphaned Land and the 700 piece traveling city Haggard, which single handedly make this 71,000 Tons of Metal. More...

UMC, the promoters for 70,000 Tons of Metal, announced the final band just as the floating festival sets sail today. It was no surprise as Germany's Atrocity was named. The band makes up the majority of Leaves' Eyes, who are also on the cruise, and both acts will set out on a North American Tour with Moonspell this weekend right after the cruise returns to Miami on Friday morning (see tour dates here).

The sold out event will set sail at 4:00pm today from Miami with a stop at Costa Maya, Mexico on Wednesday before heading back to Miami on Friday morning. Metal Underground.com will also be onboard to provide daily reports on all of the festival activities.

UMC, the promoters for 70,000 Tons of Metal, announced two of the final three acts as the final weekend before the floating festival sets sail in three days (Monday, January 27th) has arrived. California's Nekrogoblikon and Tampa death metal act Massacre were welcomed onboard in the last 24 hours.

Massacre will be performing some songs from their forthcoming album "Back From Beyond" during the band's two sets.

In addition, UMC reported that the event has sold out, however there are still single tickets in shared cabins still available. For more information, head on over to www.70000tons.com. The cruise dates are from January 27, 2014 to January 31, 2014 - with the destination set as Costa Maya, Mexico, which was voted on by the fans. Metal Underground.com will also be onboard to provide reports on all of the activities.

There is at least 1 more band to be announced (it is unknown whether any add on acts will be announced as have been in past years) and the current lineup including the latest is as follows:

UMC, the promoters for 70,000 Tons of Metal, launched another volley of acts for the upcoming floating festival, which sets sail in 11 days: New Jersey's Swashbuckle, Norway's Keep Of Kalessin and International act Twilight Of The Gods.

For Swashbuckle, it will be the band's second appearance on the cruise and Twilight of the Gods appeared on the first cruise as a Bathory tribute band and will pay homage to Quorthon in one of the band's two sets this year.

The cruise will take place from January 27, 2014 to January 31, 2014 - with the destination set as Costa Maya, Mexico, which was voted on by the fans. For more information, including booking your trip - head on over to www.70000tons.com.

Swashbuckle, Keep Of Kalessin and Twilight Of The Gods join the previously announced acts, with 3 more bands still to be announced:

UMC, the promoters for 70,000 Tons of Metal, launched another volley of acts for the upcoming floating festival, which sets sail in 11 days: Germany's Freedom Call, Boston's Unearth and Danish death thrashers Hatesphere.

The cruise will take place from January 27, 2014 to January 31, 2014 - with the destination set as Costa Maya, Mexico, which was voted on by the fans. For more information, including booking your trip - head on over to www.70000tons.com.

Freedom Call, Unearth and Hatesphere join the previously announced acts, with 6 more bands still to be announced:

Cynic has premiered the title track from the forthcoming new album "Kindly Bent To Free Us" in the form of a lyric video. Check it out below, courtesy of Revolvermag.com.

The album was engineered by Jason Donaghy, mixed by R. Walt Vincent, and mastered by Maor Appelbaum. The artwork for "Kindly Bent to Free Us" is by long-time Cynic artist Robert Venosa and the album is scheduled for a North American release date on February 18th, 2014 (February 14 worldwide).

About the new material, drummer Sean Reinert said: "...It's a bold new sound for Cynic and marks a gigantic leap in the band's progression. We've had a lot of time to let this material develop and gestate, and it finally feels ready to be unleashed on the world. I've been in trio mode with Malone and Masvidal flushing out a zillion and one details, and couldn't be happier about what's happening with these songs. They are truly alive!" More...

UMC, the promoters for 70,000 Tons of Metal, announced the next two bands for the upcoming floating festival: Gloryhammer (featuring Christopher Bowes of Alestorm and Thomas Lazlo Winkler formerly of Emerald) and reformed Swiss thrashers Poltergeist (featuring André Grieder, who sang vocals on Destruction's 1990 album "Cracked Brain").

The cruise will take place from January 27, 2014 to January 31, 2014 - with the destination set as Costa Maya, Mexico, which was voted on by the fans. For more information, including booking your trip - head on over to www.70000tons.com.

Gloryhammer and Poltergeist join the previously announced acts, with 9 more bands still to be announced:

UMC, the promoters for 70,000 Tons of Metal, announced the next four new bands for the upcoming floating festival: Death DTA (featuring Sean Reinert (Cynic) - drums, Paul Masvidal (Cynic) - guitar, Steve DiGiorgio (Autopsy, Testament, Iced Earth) - bass, and Max Phelps (Cynic)), Miami death/progressive fusion act Cynic, Chicago doom metallers Novembers Doom and German hard rock act Bonfire (who will play the entire "Fireworks" album at one of its performances).

The cruise will take place from January 27, 2014 to January 31, 2014 - with the destination set as Costa Maya, Mexico, which was voted on by the fans. For more information, including booking your trip - head on over to www.70000tons.com.

Death DTA, Cynic, Novembers Doom and Bonfire join previously announced acts, with 11 more bands still to be announced:

CarcassCripperDark TranquilityDeath AngelD.R.I.Fear FactoryFinntrollHaggardIzegrimLeaves' EyesObituary (debuting the band's forthcoming new album in its entirety)Orphaned LandOverkillPungent StenchRavenRising StormSatyriconSepticfleshSoilworkSwallow the SunSymphony XThe HauntedVictoryVicious Rumors (playing "Digital Dictator" album in its entirety)Xandria More...

The deluxe edition of "Kindly Bent to Free Us" will come as a collector’s faux book with leather finish and gold foil print including the album in a digisleeve CD with the exclusive bonus track “Earth Is My Witness" and numerous exclusive items including a poster, lyrics booklet, full score booklet, and 5 transparent slides of additional artwork. More...

The new record was produced by Cynic at Perfect Sound Studios in Los Angeles. "Kindly Bent To Free Us" was engineered by Jason Donaghy (Feist, Rob Zombie), mixed by R. Walt Vincent (Pete Yorn, Tommy Keene) and mastered by Maor Appelbaum (Fates Warning, Sepultura, Inquisition).

The artwork for "Kindly Bent To Free Us" is by long-time Cynic artist and sadly late Robert Venosa. The album will be released on February 14th (February 18th in North America) as a CD Digipak, a limited edition collector's box, limited edition double LP, and digitally.

About the new material, drummer Sean Reinert said: "It's a bold new sound for Cynic and marks a gigantic leap in the band's progression. We've had a lot of time to let this material develop and gestate, and it finally feels ready to be unleashed on the world. I've been in trio mode with Malone and Masvidal flushing out a zillion and one details, and couldn't be happier about what's happening with these songs. They are truly alive!" More...